Dressing Is Difficult

“Through ambiguity… deep CREATIVE STATES can be UNLOCKED.” 

What follows, according to performance artist Sandrine Schaefer, is a brief preview of a site-specific piece that “takes on a time structure inspired by cycles of dormancy in bears,” and in which “the tension between mechanical, geological, and felt time is always palpable.” With that in mind, let’s once again witness Ms Schaefer’s devastating heat-ray of creativity: 

Ms Schaefer, who teaches performance art to those less gifted than herself, is a recipient of the Boston ICA’s 2015 Foster Prize, and has been described by the ICA’s senior curator as “amazing,” “compelling” and yet inexplicably “underfunded.”

Her previous artistic feats can be experienced here, here, and here.

Comments

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

There is never a real bear around when you want one.

[Sporkatus]

"Oh, bother", said Pooh

[Gunker]

All I can say is thank goodness it's "cycles of dormancy in bears", not "cycles bare".

[Alex deWinter]

Ms Schaefer, who teaches performance art to those less gifted than herself,

Both of them?

[WTP]

So her service is essentially to provide a blank canvas onto which we can project our sarcasm? Which reminds me, this being Massachusetts, whatever became of Michael Dukakis?

[Pogonip]

It reminds me of that Far Side cartoon with the snake, octopus, and squid entangled on a chair.

[champ]

Yikes, that is beyond stupidity...

[Black Ball]

yet inexplicably “underfunded.”

Perhaps the artist should perform pieces that the paying public wish to see.

[Darleen]

So I briefly clicked on to the links to her other videos on Vimeo going back 3 years (oh, the one biting into an onion is classic, I tell you)

strangely, not one comment to be found ...

[Angus]

I bet time feels to be moving geologically when you watch her "art"...

[Monty James]

And if she has a boyfriend, it's one of a long list of things he has to lie about.

No, baby, the video was awesome! My mom and dad liked it too!

[lotocoti]

yet inexplicably “underfunded.”

In other words: a hobby.

[David]

Good God that is retarded.

[Hopp Singg]

I would have said overfunded, myself, but it's probably just a matter of semantics.

[Squires]

No screaming or babble-speaking, no flailing, jerking excuse for a dance, no see-through apparatus allowing the performers to hotbox their own bodily stench. Not even any misuse of common condiments.

This is a new low, David.

[David]

This is a new low, David.

Did you not see the piles of deep and intriguing wisdom?

The repetitive encounter exhausts the OBVIOUS and cultivates a space of return.

Durational work endures time and relies on moving through MULTIPLE TEMPORALITIES.

A witness to performance art inherently assumes the privilege of having survived an exclusive experience.

Hello…?

[Hopp Singg]

Oh, well done, David! Now describe a hangnail.

[David]

Of course her greatest artistic feat is slouching in her underpants and chomping lettuce.

It’s not easy to top a thing like that.

[David]

strangely, not one comment to be found...

I suspect most of the traffic comes from here, so that’s probably for the best.

[Hal]

. . . “takes on a time structure inspired by cycles of dormancy in bears,” . . .

Well, that's perfectly reasonable. Would you want to share a stage with a live, fully grown bear, prolly one looking for something to munch on? Much better to take the stage when they're safely asleep . . .

[Clam]

A witness to performance art inherently assumes the privilege of having survived an exclusive experience.

I'm a performance art survivor.

[David]

I’m a performance art survivor.

I feel your pain.

The pretence of intellectual heft and critical discernment is quite funny, given the unspoken rules of pretend artists and their pretend art. Like practically all of her fellow hustlers, Ms Schaefer tells us that she “investigates” and “questions” things, and presumably interrogates them; but despite this allegedly relentless curiosity, I doubt that any specific insight or profundity is ever conveyed to her audience, such as it is, via the art, such as it is. And of course we’re not supposed to notice this, or notice the comical mismatch of arch rhetoric and inept flummery. And so, in order to feign discernment, one has to not discern any number of really obvious things.

[Pete of Perth]

It doesn't improve when you switch from 360p to 540p.

[David]

No refunds. Credit note only.

[Rob]

Needs to end with the stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear".

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I'm still wondering, philistine that I am, why she is wearing what at 1080p appears to be a dog's head. I suppose it could be a dog identifying as a bear, but still...

...and now, to clear the mind of this asshatery, something completely different:

B1: OK, Peter, the keys are in;

P: Right, keys in, can you check the disc oil levels please Harry;

H: Oil OK;

P: RIght, can you check the temperatures, please, Malcom;

M: OK, disc oil and speed;

B1: Hello alternator house, disc oil and temperature OK, is it OK your end ?

B2&3: (throwing switches) OK for standby...

Booting a computer, 1969 style.

[SumDunGuy]

Be honest... it's just her standing in the woods for a minute and a half isn't it.

Maybe doing something inane?

[R. Sherman]

Bear-themed performance art. More entertaining than Ms. Shaefer's efforts, I think.

[Chris Scherf]

The only thing was a bear belly.
Or is this "The Unbear-able Lightness of Breathing"?
It also appears that it was not bear season. Not really so avante-garde and egdy now, is it?

[Mike]

Your tax dollars at work.

[David]

Your tax dollars at work.

I don’t know about the funding of this particular, um, effort, but Ms Schaefer has received grants from the Boston ICA, which receives public funding, and from Waltham Cultural Council, which in turn is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and ultimately by the taxpayer. The MCC claims to be “unleashing the power of culture.”

[Jon Powers]

May I have my credit note, please?

[jabrwok]

appears to be a dog's head

That's what I thought at first too, but upon closer examination (the things I do!) it appears to be a bear-head decal on the shirt. The "artist's" head is still inside the shirt, or so it appears.

[Steve E]

The hanger is entirely appropriate. The whole thing resembles a failed abortion attempt.

[WTP]

The whole thing resembles a failed abortion attempt.

Heh...Best argument for abortion...from Ace...

Regarding art in general, wife and I attended a very enjoyable outdoor art festival this weekend in central Florida and I was quite pleased that everything that we saw was what one could reasonably call art. No performance BS, not one piece of political BS. What was especially nice was the fact that it didn't occur to me that either was "missing" until I read this post. Granted, one photographer artist with whom I spoke had to take an arrogant pose when I asked about one of his pictures. And a couple people freaked out, though in a very passive aggressive way, as I lit a cigar on our way back to the car.

I'm still wondering, philistine that I am...

One thing that did occur to me while there was that much of the art we were seeing was far too pedestrian for most "real" art critics. Yet crap like this can find many apologists among the "educated". I wasted a little too much time pondering the meaning of the word "philistine".

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

That's what I thought at first too, but upon closer examination (the things I do!) it appears to be a bear-head decal on the shirt.

I don't know - a) Bears don't have floppy jowls or white, brown, and black muzzles, nor have tongues hanging out; b) I don't give her credit enough for knowing the difference between a dog and a bear.

[R. Sherman]

[E]verything that we saw was what one could reasonably call art.

Probably because the works evinced skill in creation and were pleasing to the senses. Unlike the "performance BS," which usually involves a couple of dudes performing a pee de deux, then haranguing the audience for forty minutes about systemic oppression while using the word "metaphor" way too often.

[Y. Knott]

( - so you know - yes; and I'm sorry - there's no record of Maxine Waters saying that (however fitting it would've been):

truthorfiction (dot) com, maxine-waters-i-march-because-my-mother-couldnt-have-an-abortion )

[aelfheld]

In what substantial fashion does this 'performance art' differ from a child draped in a sheet pretending to be a ghost?

[WTP]

( - so you know - yes; and I'm sorry - there's no record of Maxine Waters saying that (however fitting it would've been):

You know, Ace has really been disappointing me lately. I have been generally associating such disappointments to a certain Dildo but I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't a bit broader amongst the other COBs now. I understand it's not a "news" site but it seems lately they are simply not interested in any negative feedback regarding facts. Perhaps I've been turned all upside down but I expect the MSM to abuse facts and not really care much. When those who (rightfully) abuse the MSM for abusing facts and then carelessly abuse them themselves...sigh...People like me who actually have a life (yes, hard to believe as often as I post here), can't be bothered to check out ever freaking thing. It's all so tiresome.

[Alex deWinter]

Needs to end with the stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear".

I can think of a number of things that would be improved by that.

[Fred the Fourth]

Performance art used to include things like Laurie Anderson (wow, I almost typed Laurie Penny there. phew.)
Laurie was seriously weird, sure, but also talented, musical, imaginative, hard-working, and inventive.
Oh, and quite commercially successful.
Ms. Schaefer? Not so much.

[Paul Carlton]

In my opinion, her sound effects are less interesting than Ivor the Engine, but on the other hand, I found her midriff twitch oddly hypnotic.

I bet flies never settle on her stomach.

[pst314]

and now, to clear the mind of this asshatery, something completely different

Thank you!

[Paul Carlton]

It suddenly strikes me that most pieces of performance art can be improved with a string vest and a knotted handkerchief.

Wellingtons too, if you want to go full Gumby.

[Paul Carlton]

"In what substantial fashion does this 'performance art' differ from a child draped in a sheet pretending to be a ghost?"

It has a picture of a bear (or possibly a dog)?

[pst314]

"Oh, bother", said Pooh.

[champ]

Talk about chutzpah...

https://bearingarms.com/bob-o/2016/11/03/parents-dead-robber-really-mad-victim-gun/

[David]

Talk about chutzpah...

Given the context, the mother’s indignation does seem a tad misplaced. But I suppose indignation, however absurd, may serve as a buffer against another, more credible feeling - say, shame.

[Squires]

Durational work endures time...

That it does:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77092519@N08/8256111183/in/album-72157632519495350/

A shame Ms. Bearshirt didn't bother.

[neal]

The tree should file a grievance for molestation uninvited.
Rubbing against that branch and panting.

I did notice she factored in gravity and taunted without being crushed by pretension.

She should do that with a large cactus, and get more funding. And medical attention.

[PiperPaul]

Did someone say Laurie Penny?

[Robert of Ottawa]

Obviously going through her static period.

[Alex deWinter]

I thought that dead thug story sounded familiar, and it was -- it's from November '16. Don't know why it recently popped up again.

[pst314]

I thought that dead thug story sounded familiar, and it was -- it's from November '16.

Yes. Although that sort of story is depressingly familiar. "Why did the police have to shoot him? He was only committing armed robbery!" seems to be a common complaint in sections of society that one does not want to meet. My favorite remains "why did that janitor have to shoot my baby? He was only beating the janitor with a baseball bat. Racism!"

[Spiny Norman]

The Peasants are Revolting!

You said it! They stink on ice! ... oh, waitaminute! The elites are revolting against the peasants.

[scat d'Ursus Arctos]

? for hanger clothes the is hell the what.